100 years of GOP conventions

The 2012 Republican National Convention was held in Tampa Bay, Florida. Here's a look back at 100 years of GOP conventions and memorable moments from each according to the Library of Congress.

1912 (Chicago) -- The Republican Party was divided between Theodore Roosevelt and William Taft. Roosevelt won six primaries, but Taft controlled the party machinery and ultimately won the nomination.

1916 (Chicago) -- To heal the rift between the Republican and Progressive parties caused by the 1912 convention, both factions met concurrently in Chicago in 1916 to come to a consensus on a candidate and party platform. Charles Evans Hughes of New York was eventually selected.

1920 (Chicago) -- The 19th amendment giving women the right to vote had passed in the Senate just three days earlier, and women were represented in significant numbers for the first time with 27 delegates and 129 alternates.

1924 (Cleveland) -- This was the first national party convention to be broadcast on radio, and the convention rules were changed to elect women to the national committee.

1928 (Kansas City, Mo.) -- A relatively quiet convention, Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover won the GOP nomination following the announcement by President Calvin Coolidge that he would not seek re-election.

1932 (Chicago) -- The mood of this convention was solemn due to the Great Depression. However, Hoover’s supporters claimed that the country’s problems were the result of worldwide economic affairs and not administration policies.

1936 (Cleveland) -- One of a small number of Republicans who managed to get re-elected during the Depression, Kansas Gov. Alfred M. Landon was the runaway choice for president.

1940 (Philadelphia) -- Determined to take the presidency away from the Democrats, Republican came into this convention swinging and nominated Wendell L. Willkie for president even though he had never run for public office.

1944 (Chicago) -- The Republican platform in 1944 denounced the country's Democratic rule since 1933. Party leaders selected New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey as their nominee.

1948 (Philadelphia) -- Republicans nominated Dewey again for president, and adopted a domestic platform that opposed segregation in the military and vowed "rigorous enforcement of existing laws against Communists."

1952 (Chicago) -- A very unpopular war was being fought in Korea, and Republicans pledged to end it. They also promised to end “communist subversion," nominating war hero Dwight D. Eisenhower of Kansas for president.

1956 (San Francisco) -- Eisenhower and Vice President Richard Nixon were unanimously re-nominated despite efforts by some in Eisenhower's Cabinet to find another vice president.

1960 (Chicago) -- Before this convention, GOP nominee Richard Nixon and New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller secretly forged a 14-point agreement on the major issues to be contained in the Republican platform. It was later dubbed the "compact of Fifth Avenue."

1964 (San Francisco) -- Particularly noteworthy in Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater’s acceptance speech was his dramatic assertion that “extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice” and that “moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.”

1968 (Miami Beach) -- Nixon won his second presidential nomination this year, and Massachusetts Sen. Edward Brooke was elected as the first African-American temporary convention chairman.

1972 (Miami Beach) -- This convention, which saw the re-nomination of Nixon, was carefully organized to take advantage of television coverage. Its five sessions took place over 17 hours as compared to the Democrat’s 30 hours.

1976 (Kansas City, Mo.) -- Incumbent Gerald Ford was nominated for president, but only after narrowly defeating California Gov. Ronald Reagan. Reagan gave an impromptu concession speech that many call a "defining moment of the Reagan Revolution."

1980 (Detroit) -- Reagan finally got his due in 1980, winning the presidential nomination. After unsuccessfully trying to recruit Ford as his vice president, Reagan selected former U.S. Rep. George H.W. Bush of Texas.

1984 (Dallas) -- With President Reagan’s re-nomination certain and his popularity high, convention-goers were in a particularly festive mood. The nation’s economy was recovering from the recession, inflation had subsided and employment was rebounding.

1988 (New Orleans) -- Bush came back from early poor finishes to become the party's nominee, and he surprised everyone by selecting junior Indiana Sen. Dan Quayle as his running mate.

1992 (Houston) -- Bush was re-nominated for president and made an unusual apology during the convention, admitting he made a mistake in failing to keep his famous 1988 “no new taxes” pledge.

1996 (San Diego) -- Longtime Kansas Sen. Bob Dole became the oldest man at 73 to be nominated for president at this convention.

2004 (New York) -- George W. Bush handily won renomination, and told the country in his acceptance speech that, with the approaching third anniversary of 9/11, he was the only safe choice for president in an age of terrorism.

2008 (St. Paul, Minn.) -- First-day proceedings were curtailed due to concern over Hurricane Gustav. Arizona Sen. John McCain was eventually nominated for president, and he made a historic decision in naming Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate -- only the second woman vice presidential candidate.

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